RESEARCH - THE OXFORD HANDBOOK OF THE SELF

 When I had my first initial meeting with Lucía and talked about exploring ideas of the self in response to stimuli of duality and perception, both self- and external-, she recommended I read The Oxford Handbook of the Self (Gallagher [ed.], 2011), to explore these ideas further. The book wasn't available on the Sunderland Library, but Lucía sent me the introduction that I read and got a better grasp on how I want to explore the self in rehearsals with my dancers and what sort of narrative I want to develop. Here are a few of the quotes that spoke to me in the development of my understanding of the self and how I want to explore this through contemporary dance.

This abstract on how some of the authors explore aspects of the self led me to think further about the internal versus the external self. Certain aspects of the self are defined by their isolation to the cognitive self, there are specific things/idiosyncrasies that only an individual knows about themselves, as well as the narrative of a life being experienced internally. There are also certain parts of the self that come from the external actions and experiences of a person in the world, as well as parts of a self that can only be seen by external eyes. I want to explore this with my dancers through written tasks and verbal conversations around how they see each other and themselves.

I found this quite interesting, that there is still no explanation as to what constitutes a self, as to define its scientific explanation is to be completely outside of humanity/consciousness, as anything with a conscious mind is a self. I'm enjoying pondering the idea of the limitlessness of what a self seems to be, and how that's such an interesting thing to explore through movement. 

I think the indefinability of it gives this concept so much room for expansion beyond this moment with these two dancers, in rehearsal, we will explore what a dual relationship means to be represented by the two of them, what makes them similar and different, how do they work together and opposingly?

I want to explore self-recognition with my dancers through written tasks to help them get in the mindset of being conscious of what it means to be themselves, but also about each other in terms of understanding what it means to be the other person. I mainly want to explore this through a cognitive mindset translated into physical movement, but it's interesting to know that the self doesn't just exist in a conscious mind, it flows into bodily experiences in how a physical body understands itself through life.

Gallagher, S [ed.]. (2011) The Oxford Handbook of the Self (Introduction - A Diversity of Selves) Available At: https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199548019.001.0001 (Accessed: 08/03/2024)